As Amitabh Bachchan shared 'breaking news' of a bat in his room, netizens were not pleased and accused him of 'demonising' bats for calling them 'corona.'

People have been venting out at the practice of eatings bats, and bats in general amid reports that the coronavirus originated via this practice. Emraan Hashmi was one of the celebrities who had fumed at the ‘freakish culinary experience’ as the world suffered because of COVID-19. While that was directed at the practice of eating bats, Amitabh Bachchan feared the mammal itself when it landed at the actor’s residence.

Big B took to Twitter on Saturday to share ‘news of the hour’ , ‘breaking news’ about a ‘chamgadar’ landing into his ‘den’, at his third-floor room at bungalow Jalsa in Juhu, Mumbai. The veteran quipped that he found it hard to shoo it away, terming it as ‘corona’ and that it was not ready to leave at all.

While a section of the netizens laughed over it, and some expressed concern for him, many of them were not pleased. They accused him of ‘demonising’ and ‘dooming’ the species and added that it was in ‘poor taste.’ Some shared reports of bats not being harmful, that it will not transmit the virus and that it was wrong to pin the blame on them.

Here are the reactions:

Not in good taste sir. You have millions of followers. Still we don’t have exact process of human virus spillover. Demonising bat is last thing we want. Things we know for sure; They are pollinators. They help in pest control. Please revisit it.

Sorry to hear this from a reputed personality. Bats are not harmful and there is no need to fear. Kindly understand that they did not spread the virus to human.The reason is still debated. By nature, most animals have got virus in their body. Pls read this👇 pic.twitter.com/BxAdnI67bz

This is not the first time that Amitabh Bachchan has got flak during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Shahenshah has been accused of sharing ‘WhatsApp forwards’, like stating that the practice of clapping or hitting an object succeeding in creating vibrations to kill the virus, and another of the map of the world in which only India was lit, when citizens lit diyas to express solidarity in the fight against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan has lent support to various initiatives in the COVID-19 fight. He has taken up the cause of providing food packets in Mumbai amid the lockdown and also contributed to a fund initiated by Chiranjeevi to help the daily wage workers of the Telugu film industry. Big B also shot numerous informational videos related to the pandemic.

The connection of bats to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic is yet to be confirmed. While Coronaviruses are and have been found in bats - multiple strains in fact - it is as yet undetermined whether the Covid-19 variant that is wreaking havoc across the world came about because of bat consumption in some way, or because of some other reason such as if it was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There have been various theories put forth, with countries also seeking a probe to determine the exact origin of the outbreak.

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First Published:
26th April, 2020 11:02 IST

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